Why Trump-Putin speaks little about things to end the Ukrainian war quickly

The war in Ukraine, launched by the large -scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, shows no sign of slowdown.

In eastern Ukraine, Russia continues in a grinding and bloody advance. Mortal air strikes are a night event across the country, while Russia’s refineries and energy facilities are under regular kyiv drones.

It is in this backdrop that the Kremlin confirmed that a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was planned and which should take place soon. “I’m here to get (war) with it,” the American chief said on Wednesday.

Three cycles of talks between Russia and Ukraine held at his request between May and July failed to bring the two parts of peace closer, and Trump could hope that taking the situation could finally lead to a cease-fire.

But the gulf between Kyiv and Moscow is so large that even the mediated talks by Trump could make the bridge difficult.

In a memorandum presented to the Ukrainians by Russia in June, Moscow described its maximalist requests for a “final settlement” of the conflict. They include recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Ukrainian Crimean regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as well as Ukraine accepting demilitarization, neutrality, no foreign military involvement and new elections.

“The Russian part can supervise this in different ways, creating the impression that Moscow is open to concessions and serious negotiations,” wrote Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya. “But the central position remains unchanged: Russia wants Kyiv to go.”

After a meeting between Putin and American envoy Steve Witkoff, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had a better understanding of the conditions in which Russia would be ready to end the war.

We do not know if these conditions have changed. However, only last week, Putin – probably referring to the memorandum – said that Russia had made its objectives known in June and that these objectives had remained the same.

Consequently, despite the Kremlin who accepts a meeting of Trump-Putin, there is no reason to believe that Moscow is ready to move on its difficult prerequisites.

So why would Putin accept talks at this stage?

One possibility is that he hopes that engaging in dialogue could repel the secondary sanctions that Trump threatened to impose on Moscow business partners on Friday. The Kremlin may also think that he could convince Trump of the advantages of his conditions to end the war.

At the start of his second term, Trump seemed to be more aligned with Russia than Ukraine, calling Zelensky as “dictator” and suggesting that he was to blame for war with Russia.

Although he has since reported his impatience with Putin-“He simply makes me hit,” he said in April-Trump also refused to say if he thought that the Russian chief had lied to him for his desire to go to a cease-fire.

Whether it is due to a personal affinity or an aligned world vision, Trump hesitated to condemn Putin to his actions.

When the two met in Helsinki in 2018 – during Trump’s first mandate as president – many were amazed to see Trump separate from the Kremlin on the accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections and assume responsibility for the tense state of American -Russia.

It may be partly to repel the possibility that Trump is influenced by Putin that kyiv wants to participate in cease-fire talks.

Thanks to his envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump also suggested holding a trilateral with Putin and Zelensky. But the Russian president beat these suggestions, saying that the conditions for a meeting are still far away.

Now, some in Ukraine fear that a meeting of Trump-Putin can lead the President of Putin’s requests.

The Ukrainian deputy Iryna Herashchenko said that it became obvious that the requests for territorial concessions from Ukraine would be made and that being absent from the negotiation table would be “very dangerous” for kyiv.

“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and awaits the same daring approach on the Russian side,” said Zelensky on Thursday.

But the Gulf between Russia and Ukraine remains.

And if the Kremlin finally accepts a trilateral meeting, Moscow’s ceasefire requests have proved so insoluble that it is not clear what Zelensky and Putin could achieve.